Lovely Odette

A few more photos of our lovely little lady.  I have no words to express how in love I am.

Welcome To The World

We are truly blessed and privileged to announce the birth of the newest member of our little family, Odette Veretta Burgher.  She was born yesterday at 3:42pm and weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and is 20.5 inches long and she's perfect.

We feel so blessed and thank you all for the well wishes.  Many more pictures to come.

"All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready To Go"

Still no baby, but we are getting close and it's a good thing too because my irritability has kicked into high gear over the past few days.  This morning, I actually sassed back to a police officer (on our walk to church, no less) when he asked me in an incredulous manner if I was having twins.  In my defense, it's hot and humid here today, we had just walked nearly 3 miles and it's my least favorite day of the year in NYC... the day of the Puerto Rican Day parade.  But still, not an adequate excuse, I know.  So here's hoping that this little one decides to come sooner rather than later before I get myself into trouble!

P.S. The John Denver reference is for my very kind and understanding husband who, unlike that poor police officer, has to live with me!

Uno!

Today, I am officially 39 weeks pregnant which means one week to go.  And in even better news, I just came from my doctor's office and perhaps this little girl won't even make us wait that long as I am three, almost four centimeters dilated and she said that there's a good chance the baby will arrive before my due date.  I can't express how exciting this new development is, particularly because I have been one centimeter dilated for the last 3 weeks and felt like this baby was never coming out.

I, however, was apparently one of the only ones who believed that she would never arrive.  Last Friday, while waiting at the street corner for the light to change and taking the opportunity to stretch my aching back, this complete stranger who was sitting on a bench talking on his phone, interrupted his conversation to yell over to me "Hey!  Are you okay?", clearly thinking I was going into labor and then everybody around us started staring at me.  It was pretty embarrassing. And the day before that, while waiting for the bus, a nice older lady asked me if I was close to my hospital.  At the time, I thought she was just curious if I lived near my hospital, but in retrospect, I think she meant at that moment was I close to my hospital in case I was to go into labor right then. 

So stay tuned... we hope to have exciting news in the near future!

No. this is not a picture of me (my photographer was busy working at his real job today) but I had to share this photo of my friend Erin who is 36 weeks pregnant because she looks so beautiful in it.  I can't tell you how exciting it is to have friends that are pregnant at the same time, but to have one of your oldest best friends only 3 weeks apart in their pregnancy from yours is quite possibly as good as it gets.  I can't wait to introduce our girls - I just know that they will be instant best friends.  Now if only she didn't live in a different city!

Andrew's Birthday Party (Part 2)

Here are the rest of the photos from Andrew's 2nd birthday party!  Believe me when I say that I captured only a fraction of the wonderful activities and details of the festivities. Three days later, Olin is still recapping all the fun he had and spontaneously sings "Happy Birthday, Andrew" throughout the day.

It was the sweetest party for the sweetest little boy and we loved every minute of it!  Thanks, Lisa, Brian and Andrew for inviting us!

Inside the party, there were arts and crafts...

A magic show... 

A visit from Elmo and Abby!  Although Olin hasn't stopped talking about meeting them, notice how petrified he is of them in the moment...

Dancing, including one dance on bubble wrap - a definite hit among toddlers...

Face (or hand, in Olin's case) painting...

Super fun party favors...

Incredible details throughout...

 

And of course, the adorable birthday boy himself!

 

P.S.  This was little mister a mere 5 minutes into the drive home, undoubtedly dreaming about Elmo, cake and horses.  It was a very fun party indeed...

 

Andrew's Birthday Party (Part 1)

On Sunday we made our way out to Long Island to celebrate the second birthday of Olin's friend Andrew! Andrew's cowboy-themed party was so incredible that I had to break this into two separate posts because we had too many great pictures from all the fun!

There was fun to be had inside and outside, so below are photos from the outdoor activities which included a petting zoo and rides on the sweetest little pony named Wishbone (or "hee hee" according to Olin).  This was little mister's first pony ride and it couldn't have come at a better time because over the last few weeks he has really developed a love for horses.  He asked to go around the loop a second time and would have probably stayed on poor Wishbone all afternoon if we would have let him.  He honestly hasn't stopped talking about riding the "hee hee" and petting the chickens since.  I think Olin may already be counting the days until Andrew's third birthday!

Photos from the party's indoor activities to come tomorrow.  Have a great Tuesday everyone!

A Picnic to Celebrate the Nearing End of the School Year

Josh took Friday afternoon off from work so that we could attend Olin's big school picnic as a family.  Our little social butterfly had a wonderful time playing with each of his friends with such excitement.  He ran around so much that his little cheeks were flush the entire time.  He really has blossomed at his school this year and it is rewarding to see how much he has grown and to see him have little friends of his own and special relationships with his wonderful teachers.

We did opt out of the pizza that they had at picnic as we witnessed not one, but two little ones "get sick" in the park and decided on burritos at Blockheads where Olin devoured chips and guacamole and a quesadilla (or "pizza pie" as he calls it).  He also ate ice cream from a cone for the first time on the way home from dinner so it was a really big afternoon for our little guy.